


Surprise visit

by Vault_Emblem



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Family Feels, Gen, Growing Up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-13 12:25:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17488016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vault_Emblem/pseuds/Vault_Emblem
Summary: It's been a slow day at the shop when Dante gets an unexpected visitor.





	Surprise visit

**Author's Note:**

> I was about to write this and setting it in canon but then I realised that the timelines wouldn't match because Dante just got his store at the beginning of DMC3 but I really wanted to write this so I said "fuck it" and it's an AU now.  
> It's either a "DMC3 never happened" AU or a "DMC3 happened but Dante saved Vergil" AU or either a "DMC3 happened but Dante manages to save Vergil in DMC1". You choose

With time, Dante has learned to enjoy days like this one, days in which nothing happens.

He still loves adventures and fighting demons in the most crazy ways possible, but between one global emergency and the other, he’s learned to enjoy those moments of pause in which he can catch his breath and pretend that he’s just a regular guy running a regular – as regular as the Devil May Cry can be – shop.

Maybe it’s a sign that he’s getting old, but Dante doesn’t mind. They say that the older you get the more wisdom you acquire, right? He doesn’t really know what he’s going to do with it, but it would still be nice to have it.

 

He closes the third magazine for that day and he sets it on the desk, and it’s then that he realises that he doesn’t have anything else to ready anymore. What he’s supposed to do, now?

Trish isn’t even there with him. She might be a demon but even she needs a free day from time to time, and Dante’s more than happy to let her wander off; it wouldn’t be right for her to constantly be at the shop. She should enjoy life, since she didn’t have many occasions to do that before.

 

Uh, he’s getting introspective now.

Man… this really has been a very slow day.

 

 

As if the world has heard his thought, the shop’s door opens and a figure stumbles inside.

It’s not the first time something like this happens – Dante has had way too many weird visitors at the shop – so he doesn’t panic, not even a bit, and he stays where he is, with his legs comfortable crossed over the desk.

\- Need the bathroom? -, he asks, before looking up and realising who he’s talking to.

 

He looks drenched – only now that the door has been opened Dante realises that it’s been storming outside – and tired, his clothes aren’t in perfect order like they would usually be and saying that his hair looks dishevelled would be an understatement, but there’s no way Dante could be wrong: that’s Vergil.

 

He steps inside, leaving a trail of blood behind him.

Just what the hell did he do to get reduced to this state?

 

Dante quickly rises from his seat, walking towards his brother.

\- Vergil, what happened? -.

He’s in front of the other and for a moment it looks like Vergil’s about to fall; Dante stretches his arms, ready to catch him, but instead Vergil turns away to another direction, towards the old couch Dante constantly forgets to move, and he lets himself fall over it, face into the mattress but with Yamato still tight in his grasp.

 

This is such an unlikely way for him to act, but instead of finding it funny, this worries Dante even more.

 

He walks over to where his brother is and he crouches down beside him so that he can study him better.

Whatever wound he must’ve suffered seems healed by now, but it must’ve taken a lot of energy out of Vergil to do so. He still looks dead tired and it’s a miracle that he managed to get there in the first place; he must’ve been nearby.

\- Are you being followed? -, he asks, just to be sure he’s not going to get another surprise visit at the shop, and Vergil replies with a sound similar to a “no”, or at least Dante thinks it’s a no.

 

\- … Tired… Lemme stay… please -.

 

Oh, had it been another situation, Dante would’ve laughed.

Who knew all it takes is having Vergil beaten up to a pulp to have him be more polite?

\- Well, how can I say no when you asked me so nicely? -, he replies then, earning a grumble from Vergil that he’s not able to decipher.

The moment to make fun of him for this will come – of course it will – but it wouldn’t be fun to do that when his brother is in this state. He’d rather do it when he’s more responsive, even at the cost to get into a fight with him.

 

… Now that he thinks about it, it’s been a very long time since they last fought.

They don’t see each other much anymore – that, unfortunately, Dante doubts is ever going to change – but their last interactions have been… well, they still snark at each other and tend to argue over the stupidest things, but yes, they haven’t been fighting in a long while.

 

 

He’s about to add something when he notices that Vergil’s already fallen asleep.

It feels like a dream, doesn’t it? But no, it’s happening; it’s real.

 

He gets up then and he stares at Vergil.

He has no idea how he’s supposed to feel. They aren’t exactly estranged, but they’re also not very close either, not anymore.

At first it never bothered him but now, and isn’t this another sign that he’s getting older, it’s starting to.

They have their disagreements, but they’re the last of their family; they should stick together, or at least hear from each other from time to time.

 

Looking at him like this makes him go back to when they were kids.

Vergil was always the quickest to get to the couch, ready to take a nap, but somehow Dante always managed to keep him awake, either by proposing a new and exciting challenge or even just by talking.

God, they used to talk so much. It was so hard to shut them up once they started. They talked about everything, mostly stupid stuff, but for them it was the world.

 

Maybe… now that they’ve put their differences aside a bit… they could try do that again. Dante wouldn’t mind, but he isn’t so sure about Vergil.

And to think that he used to know him so well, and now he’s pretty much a stranger to him.

 

He sighs, scratching his ever growing beard – he thinks it’s a good look on him, it doesn’t matter that nobody else agrees.

It’s not like he can’t do anything about their broken bond now, can he? Or at least, maybe there is something he can do, but if Vergil doesn’t cooperate then it’s all for nothing.

Still, this isn’t something he should think about on his own. If he finds a way to swallow his pride, he might bring it up when Vergil wakes up; he does owe him and explanation after all, and Dante will make sure that he doesn’t get to leave without him noticing.

 

For now the least he can do it to strip Vergil off his coat and to put it somewhere to dry off. He huffs a laugh when he notices that, even in his sleep, Vergil’s hold on Yamato is tight, but then he remembers that he always keeps Ebony under the pillow when he goes to bed. Well, there is still something they share, after all.

It’s hard to take Yamato away from him but eventually Dante manages to break Vergil’s grasp, all without waking him up –an indication of how tired he must be – and he lets it rest it against the desk. It would be fun to hide it somewhere, but Vergil trusts him enough to let him see him in such a vulnerable state and he’s not going to betray him like that…

 

Yes, Vergil trusts him, he realises.

He trusts him enough to come to him in that pitiful state, trusts him not to pull any shit – or at least, not something too serious – on him. He just… trusts him.

The fact alone that he came there should be enough proof of that. Dante’s sure that, if he didn’t actually trust him, he would’ve rather died than come there.

 

This is all new information and he’ll need time to process it, because many things have happened between him and Vergil but maybe there’s hope, there’s hope that things might get better, and he needs time to sort through his own feelings as well.

 

For now he just goes upstairs to find something to cover Vergil with. After he finds a clean enough sheet he gets downstairs and he carefully puts that over Vergil and he wonders if he’s slowly turning into mom; he smiles at her memory.

Vergil looks so peaceful in his sleep, so different from what he has become.

 

Dante walks back to his desk, sitting exactly like before with his legs crossed over it as if nothing happened, even though he should probably get rid of the blood on the pavement.

He doesn’t know if he’s going to wait for Vergil to wake up or if he’s eventually going to fall asleep as well, but maybe…

 

He’ll stay there, just to be sure; one can never know what will happen if he lowers his guard.

Whatever happens, if anything happens at all, he will keep Vergil safe. Isn’t this what family is for?


End file.
